Cult of the Lamb is a new roguelike that looks like what would happen if one of your Animal Crossing villagers developed a satanic cult following.
Announced during today's GamesCom 2021 Opening Night Live stream, Cult of the Lamb puts you in the trotters of a possessed lamb who was saved by a mysterious stranger and is therefore building a loyal following in their name. In venturing out to spread the word of your savior, you'll need to hack through new and increasingly dangerous enemies including rival cults whose leaders I presume are the boss battles.
"Start your own cult in a land of false prophets, venturing out into diverse and mysterious regions to build a loyal community of woodland worshippers and spread your Word to become the one true cult," reads the official synopsis.
Gameplay consists of crawling your way through procedurally generated levels and fighting off hordes of enemies before, upon your inevitable demise, returning to your base to regroup. Resources you collect out in the world will be used to build new structures, perform dark rituals to appease the gods, and give sermons to keep your fellow goats faithful to your savior.
During its Gamescom presentation, host Geoff Keighley described Cult of the Lamb as an "unholy but adorable union between developer Massive Monster and [publisher] Devolver Digital," and that just about sums up its reveal trailer. On one hand, it's hard not to fall in love with those doe-eyed lambs, but then they all gather around a giant sheep with flame-throwing eyes and it all gets a bit creepy.
Regardless, Cult of the Lamb is due out on PC and unspecified consoles next year.
Here are some other new indie games of 2021 to keep on your radar.